Organic pollutants, metals and biochemical biomarkers in Spartina densiflora in estuaries from Argentina, Brasil and Chile

MENONE, M.; GARANZINI, D.; LUKASZEWICZ, G.; JARA, S.; DÍAZ JARAMILLO, M.; COSTA, P.; GONZALEZ, M.; FILLMANN, G.; MITTON, F.; LUPI, L.; MIGLIORANZA, K.S.B; BARRA, R.

Orlando, FL

Congreso; 7th SETAC World Congress, North America 37th Annual Meeting; 2016

SETAC North America

During the last decades the South- American Atlantic and Pacific coastshave received antropogenic pollutants from industrial, domestic andagricultural sources. As a result, estuarine ecosystems work as sinks ofxenobiotics and adverse effects in biota could be expected. Analysis ofnon- esencial metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinatedbiphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) werecarried out in sediments and the macrophyte Spartina densiflora. Wellknownpolluted areas were sellected: Bahia Blanca estuary- Argentina(BB), the mouth of Saco da Mangueira of Lagoa Dos Patos- Brazil(LPII) and Lenga estuary- Chile (LEN). Non or low polluted areas wereMar Chiquita coastal lagoon- Argentina (MCH), the west coast of theLagoa Dos Patos- Brazil (LPI) and Raqui estuary- Chile (RAQ). Inaddition, activities of glutathione- S- transferases (GST), catalase (CAT)and guaiacol-peroxidases (POD); total antioxidant capacity (ACAP)and malondialdehide content were measured in roots and leaves of S.densiflora. As it was expected, BB, LPII and LEN showed high levelsof pollutants than MCH, LPI and RAQ, respectively. Lead dominatedin most of the sediments and plants tissues, with the exception of LEN estuary in which a predominance of mercury was detected. Higher PAHsconcentrations were detected in sediments from LPI and roots from LPII.In general, PAHs with 3, 4 and 5 rings predominated in both matrices.The higher total PCBs and OPCs concentrations were detected in LPIIfollowed by BB and LEN. In sediments from Argentina and Brazilendosulfan was the main compound detected while in Chile PCBs andDDTs dominated. Roots from MCH showed the highest concentration ofendosulfan, followed by LEN and LPII. Comparing estuarine sedimentlevels with some Sediment Quality Guidelines (SQG) showed that LENexceded some effect levels in mercury concentrations mainly. Some clearpatterns in biomarkers were observed; lower CAT activity in LPII than inLPI and lower GST activity in BB than in MCH. On the other hand, PODactivity and ACAP in roots and leaves were higher in LPII than in LPII.Statistical analysis showed a positive correlation between the concentrationsof organic pollutants with POD activity in roots and leaves